8/1/15 7:04 PM

I heard you drove and parked your car in Manhattan when you visited.
I have a couple of questions that I hope you don't mind my asking:

Did you regret it? How much did it cost?

Thanks!

Sandiway

8/1/15 7:12 PM

The last time I had a car in NYC was summer 1979. Since then I've flown in and used cabs or subway.

8/1/15 7:28 PM

Sorry Dan, my apologies. I must have mis-heard that you drove down.

Sandiway

8/1/15 8:07 PM

I get parking online from ParkWhiz. It seems to work well. I often find parking for $20 when the going prices in the neighborhood are 35-40.

I prefer to take the train, but if I need the car, I can handle it. Don't forget the bridge tolls, which are also steep.

8/1/15 8:27 PM

We often here park at the end of the one train line and use trains into Portland when doing stuff. And this city is minute as compared to NYC in scope and cost for stuff.

When we were in Joisey we'd drive in and pay to park. But there were times we took transit from Ft Wash side after a bus ride across the bridge. We always lived 10-15 minutes from the GW most. But the travel time was just way too much in the scheme of things for the NYC transit we found.

8/2/15 6:15 AM

I drive in often. But usually only on weekend or evenings, and staying for less than a day.

The total cost depends on:

How long you're staying
Weekend vs weekday
Time of day
Where you're coming from

The real question is WHY do you want to drive in.

8/2/15 8:14 PM

I want to stay in New York City for a couple of nights. I have a car and luggage.
That's why I want to drive in.

I could stay in Joisey. But it's inconvenient if I want to have dinner etc.

I'm thinking of staying on Flatbush Av, and riding the tandem in over the Brooklyn Bridge.

Sandiway

8/3/15 11:47 AM

> I could stay in Joisey. But it's inconvenient if I want to have dinner etc.

I recommend booking a hotel in Hoboken or Jersey City (aka the 6th borough). PATH train or Ferry service, with or without the tandem bike, is just as easy and convenient way to travel as from Brooklyn. The dining options are just as good as Brooklyn and the tandem cycling flat, scenic waterfront is a plus, too.

8/3/15 1:51 PM

Thanks for the suggestions. I didn't know about Hoboken...

Anyway, I decided to bite the bullet and stay in Manhattan, parking and all...

Sandiway

8/3/15 2:30 PM

> The dining options are just as good as Brooklyn <

Ahhhh NOT!
Brooklyn is one hot food scene right now.

8/3/15 2:47 PM

Brooklyn is so 2013. Even hotter .. quite a few NYC restaurateurs , following Bklyn residents emigrating across the Hudson, are opening up shop in Jersey City, which is likely to be even more ethnically diverse than Brooklyn, if you can image that.

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-every-new-yorker-should-live-in-jersey-city-2013-7?op=1

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/21/realestate/after-looking-everywhere-a-jersey-city-condo.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/realestate/meanwhile-in-jersey-city.html?_r=0

-JS

P.S. I'll favor cycling across the Hudson Greenway (NJ waterfront) over Brooklyn waterfront waypoints, including the Bklyn bridge.

8/3/15 3:42 PM

Whoo-hoo - let's not get started on a NY Metro area food fight here. For what it's worth, I'm familiar with Jersey City, Hoboken, and Newark food choices and, sorry, Brooklyn still wins, but no need to bore this forum with a discussion that can literally drag on forever.

8/3/15 4:08 PM

Hey, this is one kind of a food fight where everyone wins! After all, good and valuable information will get shared...

8/3/15 7:43 PM

For example, well known restaurants originally opended in Manhattan, but now have a location in Jersey City, but not in Brooklyn....

Grand schizuan -Chinese
Komegoshi - Japanese
Two boots - Cajun Pizzeria
John's Pizza

Outside of a nice Jewish delicatessan, I cannot think of a reason for this native Brooklynite to trek to Brooklyn for causal or fine dining or drinking or confections. This includes places like Jaque Torres which has been supplanted by Atelier in Jersey City. Indian, Middle eastern, Filipino cuisine and shopping options are examples that are more abundant options in Jersey City than any part of New York City, including Manhattan and Brooklyn.

8/4/15 10:26 AM

Chinese - Two Chinatowns in Brooklyn.
Japanese - 1 or 8 in Williamsburg is my favorite
Pizza - You're kidding, right? We'll just start with Di Fara's, a few blocks from my house.
South Asian neighborhood is one street over from my house.
Middle Eastern - Atlantic Avenue
Filipino - Purple Yam on Cortelyou, bailed out of Manhattan years ago.

These are just examples of multiple options available in Kings County. The restaurant scene exploded years ago but hasn't stopped expanding. Crazy good dining at all price points.

Oh, have to mention the Chef's Table at Brooklyn Fare - Michelin three star.

How many Michelin stars in Jersey City??

We have the reverse situation from Jersey City - We went through the cycle of having outposts of Manhattan restaurants (Oyster Bar, Blue Ribbon, e.g.) and now restaurants that started in Brooklyn are opening outposts in Manhattan!

Good restaurants are popping up in neighborhoods that you never would have imagined just a few years ago. Aside from the stalwarts of Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill, Park Slope - Red Hook, Prospect Heights, Fort Greene, Vinegar Hill, Bed-Stuy, Bushwick, East New York, Kensington, Lefferts Garden, Ditmas Park, West Midwood, all have multiple destination restaurants now. It's absurd. But I ain't complainin'.

8/4/15 10:41 AM

I imagine the choices in NYC are like a needle in the proverbial. Thus data points definitely a good thing. As a by-stander to any argument, if still in NJ I would just go to both and I bet be quite satisfied with each. No way to loose perhaps. ;)

We have been getting some new friends [John, I met cycling] turning us on to lots of good eateries here. John and Kay moved here from NoCal 20 years back. I bet the magnitude of choice here is miniscule as compared to 2-3 of 'the boroughs', so to speak. ;)

We did a Chicago style hand made pan pizza Sunday after John got surprised that this fav Vietnamese place previous chosen apparently switched their 'day closed' from Mon to Sun. ;) This place has a garden behind, and the Heirloom tomato appetizer was the pinnacle of prep, ripeness and flavour~ ;) The pan pizza which I have never been nuts about, well lets say I got turned around on that...

I think Elaine was actually pleased it happened this way, we did one Vietnamese last year that I liked a lot more than she. ;)

8/5/15 9:32 AM

Like spam-in-a-can, green eggs and ham, and fold-out (Michelin) maps, Michelin ratings is so effetely last century. Yelp, please.

From today's newspaper:

Short Grain, a quaint Jersey City coffee shop opens to much acclaim
http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2015/08/quaint_jersey_city_coffee_shop_opens_to_much_accla.html#incart_river

Notable quote from the article....

"We looked (for a location) in Jersey City for three years, tried Hoboken, and after that went to Brooklyn. Eventually we came back to Jersey City because of the community. Everyone is very close and that fit what we're going for," " said Mo, 27, who met Yu at Boston College 10 years ago.

Up the street from this cafe is a restaurant that makes its brick oven pizzas from scratch -everything including the dough, sauce, and cheese as well as others that serve Roma style pizza.

Yes, Brooklyn has that, but many folks are now looking West, to Jersey City, where there is plenty of dining options to satisfy all in a much smaller area, instead of East to Kings County. Jersey City is like a vibrant, emerging economy, like China, while Brooklyn is mostly a post (grit) industrial, mature one.

8/5/15 2:28 PM

I actually like the fact that some people are choosing places like Jersey City and Manhattan over Brooklyn. The hipster ratio is getting pretty high. When Oakland, California starts advertising itself as the next Brooklyn, when the latest, greatest, master-planned, mixed use community in Istanbul, Turkey, is called Brooklyn Park . . . can you say that a borough might have jumped the shark?

Still, those in the know have their eyes on some rundown neighborhoods with incredible housing stock and decent access to mass transit . . . It's far from over.

BTW - the oldtimers in Jersey City are bemoaning the changes that city is going through, too. When another railroad tunnel is punched under the Hudson River, the west bank is going to explode.

8/6/15 11:12 AM

Agreed. I thought Brooklyn jumped the shark years ago with the Brooklyn Chewing Gum cycling team. Boy, was I wrong. How's that for cycling related content?

-JS

P.S. Brooklyn Chewing Gum is mediocre, in a staid way, to me, much like Wrigleys. Its name & logo must be its saving grace for it to continue to remain in business after so many years.

8/6/15 12:50 PM

It's still a very popular chewing gum in its native Italy.